The Slump

Boy have I been a slump. I believe it has been a combination of things.

 

For one thing, we went on a two and a half week cruise where we were waited on hand and foot all day long. Ever since we got home I have been sitting down at the dinner table and waiting for the food to magically appear on a plate in front of us. After a while I realize it probably isn’t going to happen, so I get up and cook us some dinner. Just kidding. That is, however, what happened while we were on the ship. The beds were made, the bathroom cleaned, the meals cooked and the dishes washed while we just had fun.

 

Even though we knew this wonderful treatment was only going to happen while we were on the cruise, we did get used to it and we got pretty spoiled. My husband is still telling everyone that this was one of the best times in his life. He is an extremely hard working man and has never before been spoiled to this degree. I have to start spoiling him more.

 

I also got spoiled on the trip. I think everyone needs to be spoiled at times. On the other hand, it does make it hard to get back into the groove of life. Before I left on the trip I wrote several articles for my blog and scheduled them to post each week. While I was having fun riding around the countryside on busses, playing trivia, learning to water paint, or watching some wonderful show each night, my postings were appearing on my blog all by themselves. Now I have to think of what to write, type it up and get it posted. That is a lot more work. Don’t take me wrong, I love doing this. It does take effort and discipline though.

 

Then there is my book. The first one was easy to write. Creation is a very exciting thing to write about. The second one, however, is not so easy. I am telling the story of the fall of Lucifer and the fall of Adam and Eve. That is a very sad story to tell. When you are writing for children you can’t have too much sadness. The children will lose interest.

 

For quite a while I couldn’t figure out how I was going to do it. Then one day I felt like God inspired me to include the story of the nativity in the book. That is a very happy story. Now the book won’t be all sadness.

 

In the mean time I had gotten into a slump with my writing. A slump is different than writer’s block. With writer’s block you want to write but the words won’t come. When you are in a slump you just can’t get into the mood to write. That was the problem I was having.

 

I mentioned the last time I posted that I met a wonderful young man from Serbia named Igor while we were on the cruise ship. He was our waiter. As we got to know Igor I got to thinking about how the people in Serbia probably don’t have as much opportunity to hear about God as we do in the United States. God laid Igor on my heart to make sure he knows about God. That is when I decided to give him the book that I had with me. I also got his email address so I can tell him this story of salvation. He was very excited about getting the copy of my book. When I gave my book to Igor I told him that I would send him a copy of the next book when I get it published. He was thrilled at the idea of getting the next book also. He said, “Oh yes, please send me the next book. I would love to have it too.”

 

In case you aren’t familiar with my book, it is about a little angel named Chrisamee who watches through a window in the side of heaven as creation happens. At the end of every day she jumps out of the window, runs to the throne room and tells Father God what she saw. She has questions about it and God answers all of her questions. The idea of the book is to tell children the story of creation and to answer the questions about it that they might have. While sitting here in my home I thought about Igor wanting to receive the second book, and about how I want to tell him about God. That is what made me realize that I had to start writing again. Yesterday morning I sat down at the computer and started working on the book. Once I started, the enthusiasm about writing came back. Even though this is a more difficult book to write, I am having fun again.

 

I think the slump is over. It feels great.

 

 If anyone is interested in finding out more about my book or purchasing it you can contact me at jbates@littlechrisamee.com.